Twelve businesses will team up with local fifth-graders to determine who’s the most quiz savvy. Adults will try to answer questions from third, fourth, and fifth grade state tests during the annual “Are You Smarter than a Gaston County Fifth-Grader?” competition. Businesses pay $1,000 to form a team and participate. Money raised benefits the Gaston County Education Foundation. Each business team will be paired with two fifth-graders serving as coaches. Adults answer questions during the competition. But the fifth-graders are allowed to assist. “They consult with them,” said Jennie Stultz, president of the Gaston County Education Foundation. “The whole idea is for the fifth-graders to help them answer the questions.” At the end of each competition round, teams will be eliminated. Teams with the most points will enter the final round to compete and determine a winner. Questions cover a variety of subjects including science, math, language arts, spelling and social studies. It’s a fun evening, and fifth-graders participating are well-prepared to answer the questions, said Dr. Ann Hoscheit with Summit Eye Associates in Gastonia. She competed last year, and her colleagues will accept the challenge this year. “It’s really impressive. I would say the majority of the answers are given by the fifth-graders,” she said. “They’re bright. They’re well-prepared and they’re confident and spirited.” As for advice to business people participating, Hoscheit recommends playing the game Trivial Pursuit to prepare for the event.

Are you smarter than a local fifth-grader? Here are six questions from last year’s competition.

1. Who is the author of “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing?” 2. Your finger is about as wide as one of what metric unit? 3. When warm moist air meets cooler air, what part of the water cycle takes place to form a cloud? 4. What is the city whose name comes from the French words, “red stick?” 5. How many sides does a hexagon have? 6. In metrics, 100 meters makes one of these.